Are there too many eReaders?

Just a few of the eReaders currently out

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The Consumer Electronics Show was held on January 7, 2010. Many people attended the show in Las Vegas to see just what 2010 has in store for us. One of the things that caught a lot of eyes was the crop of eReaders. Electronic readers seemed to dominate the CES show. Not only was the Amazon Kindle, Sony Reader, and Nook available, but many new electronic readers were debuted at the show.

One particular toy that caught the interest of many was the HP Slate. This is a new tablet reader from HP. There was also the Samsung reader which not only allows you to read books, but you are also able to write on your eBooks. For example, a student who is studying may need to make notes on a book. They can do this via the Samsung technology which will store the notes for further reflection.

Ray Kurtzwell offered a new eBook platform with the Blio. The Entourage eDGe also created a two sided eBook reader for the CES show. A few of the eReaders on show were also displaying the move towards the 4G wireless network rather than the 3G that is being used right now. While 4G is not quite ready for the electronic readers the ideas were discussed for techies. A great deal of the readers has been gaining in the marketplace. The Kindle has been a hot seller since it came out attracting numerous companies’ interest. At the CES 2010 show the Amazon Kindle still had a large crowd as compared to other displays.

With the upcoming release of all these new eBook readers at the CES show and the Apple iSlate expected to debut next week, the question has to be asked — are there too many eReaders on the market? Consumers love to have a choice. They like to see what one company can do over another for a couple of reasons.

First, competition helps to reduce the cost on a device. The competition electronic readers now have will help to decrease the cost to $200 or below.

Second, consumers have favorite companies. Computers are a good example of this. There are Mac users and there are PC users. Mac users typically do not like PC’s and vice versa. If there is an Apple iSlate and HP Slate, you can assume some consumers will buy the Apple while others will purchase the HP. It is more about brand recognition and loyalty when it comes to a choice between the eReaders. At the moment there are not too many electronic readers due to the various technologies and the competition those technologies create. In the future some of the readers on the market will not survive and the numbers will be limited once again.